IDFA 2020: Bruce
19 November 2020
Chronicle of a reformed prisoner Bruce by Daniel Krikke
Daniel Krikke is an entrepreneur
and social activist as well as a filmmaker. His company produces a successful
travelling theatre show called 'Prison Monologues', based on the true stories
of ex-prisoners. Bruce, the subject of Krikke's new film of that name
(world-premiering in IDFA Competition for Dutch Documentary), was one of the
former prisoners who featured in the show.
"It
was just a heartbreaking story but it's not a unique story," Krikke says of the
charismatic but troubled young man from a drug and crime-filled background
trying to find his way back into society after a long stint in jail. "There are
a lot of youngsters out there with the same story, the same background."
After
a 60-date theatre show tour across the Netherlands in 2019, Krikke and Bruce
decided they should also make a documentary. "He [Bruce] was really willing to
work with us. He trusted us with his story in a very intimate way."
On
one level, this is an inspirational tale. Over the three years that Krikke
worked with him, the ex-con, now 28, turned his life around. Not that this was
a comfortable film for Bruce to make. "We are confronting him with his own
demons," Krikke says. "He is developing self-reflective skills, looking in the
mirror and facing those demons, dealing with them. His whole attitude has
changed. His mindset has changed. He is way more positive. I am very proud of
him. It's beautiful to see how a person can transform in a pretty short time."
Krikke
learned that one of Bruce's biggest dreams was to build his own house in
Surinam, his country of origin, and raise a family there. The director knew
that this dream might provide the perfect conclusion for the film. The last 20
minutes of the documentary, which follow Bruce to Surinam, have a very
different, far calmer "vibe" to the earlier parts of the film, in which he is
still in the Netherlands, struggling to put his life together after prison.
The
director's previous documentary Scared Of
Revolution, about civil rights campaigner and celebrated African-American
poet Umar Bin Hassan, also screened at IDFA. However, filmmaking is only part
of what he does. He is heavily involved in theatre and has a company, The Dutch
Expertise Centre for Vitality, which trains corporate executives how to deal
with stress. "I like to say I am the hardest working person in the room. I
think I still am," he says of the way he juggles multiple different activities.
"Bruce's
story is symbolic for a lot of people around the world, especially in the
Netherlands, with the same background, the same struggles as an ex-prisoner and
a victim of a bad background," Krikke reflects. That is why the director is
placing as much emphasis on social outreach through his documentary as on
conventional distribution. He is organising a tour during which the film will
be taken to prisons and youth facilities. "We'll be showing the movie, doing
workshops, inspirational sessions etc etc to inspire and train young people,
prisoners and ex-prisoners, to develop the soft skills Bruce developed during
the whole project while working with us."
This
will be launched next year, circumstances permitting. In the meantime, Krikke
is pushing ahead with two new documentaries. One is called Innovating To Zero!, inspired by a Bill Gates Ted talk about
climate change. The other, Rise, is
about female empowerment across the globe, "about powerful women who come from
nothing and are now fighting for other women."
As
for Bruce, Krikke's connection with him is well beyond that of the typical
relationship between filmmaker and subject. "We always make a very personal
investment in movies...He got to know my parents and my sister. Bruce is now
family pretty much!"
For further reading:
-> SEE NL Magazine Online, November 2020 / IDFA Doc issue
-> Line-Up Dutch Docs At IDFA 2020
-> Watch: Showreel Dutch Documentaries IDFA 2020